For example, in many cases, a main object of multihop communication is to provide single service such as advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) service. However, when a communication system such as long term evolution (LTE) is used for band extension, a communication control system using multihop communication is expected to be used for additional service (video distribution, Internet browsing, or the like). At that time, a technique is required which allows effective and fair use of unoccupied band while accurately securing a band for the AMI service as the main object.
For example, a communication control system including a master communication terminal and slave communication terminals are described in PTL 1. In PTL 1, the master communication terminal includes a contention management table registering communication-terminal transmission order, and receives participation requests from the slave communication terminals for participation of the slave communication terminals in a network.
Furthermore, PTL 2 describes that wireless communication devices constituting a wireless ad-hoc network recognize participation of a new node in the ad-hoc network. PTL2 also describes that nodes each measure a usage condition of a radio band in a communication range, change a beacon transmission interval when the radio band usage rate is not less than a certain value, and inhibit increase in band used for wireless communication or packet collision rate, caused by beacon.
A system including a premises communication adapter and a wide area communication adapter connected to the premises communication adapter is described in PTL 3. PTL 3 also describes that the wide area communication adapter uses a wireless LAN communication function to transmit and receive signals to and from a gas management server provided in a data center or the like of a gas company. Furthermore, PTL 3 describes that, for communication between premises communication adapters, multistage relay transmission is performed, which is known as multihop transmission.